Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live

 

 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and he will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.  For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

 

- John 5:19–29

 

Yesterday we read that there was a feast of the Jews [the Old Testament Pentecost, also called the "Feast of Weeks," which commemorates the giving of the Law to Moses], and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up but while I am coming, another steps down before me."  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.  And that day was the Sabbath.  The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'"  Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.  Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well.  Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  For this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."  Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

 

  Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and he will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.  For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life."  My study Bible refers to Christ's teaching here that the Son can do nothing of Himself, and comments that this proves that His every act and word is in complete unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  This discourse (continuing from yesterday's reading, above) reveals that the Father and the Son are completely united in nature, will, and action.  So, therefore, we understand that the Son fully shares the divine attributes of both giving life and executing judgment.  My study Bible continues by saying that Christ's judgment is based on both faith and works, as the following verses in today's reading also indicate.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."  Jesus says, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God."  My study Bible comments that the dead here refers both to the spiritually dead, who will find life in Christ, and also to the physically dead, who will rise in the general resurrection.  He confirms this statement when He raises Lazarus from the dead (John 11:38-44) before He goes to His own death. 

 

 Jesus' authority and unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit is allied with issues of life and death.  Life itself is therefore in His hands, for in the judgment the reality of the resurrection of life and the resurrection of condemnation are both included.  In the Revelation, the Lord says several times, " I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last" (Revelation 1:8, 11; 21:6; 22:13).  These statements are also tied in with the authority of judgment, meaning also of life and death.  In Revelation 21:6, He adds, "I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts."  It is this fountain of the water of life on which everything rests, for those who truly thirst and those who do not.  This is the same "living water" of which He spoke to the Samaritan woman at John 4:14, and revealed Himself to her.  She and her townspeople received Him gladly.  But here Jesus speaks openly to the religious leaders in Jerusalem, and they do not hear Him gladly.  This is already a type of example of the judgment, but in which time intersects with the eternal to give us a picture of what it means to reject the grace of Christ, and to refuse this water of the fountain of life.  Perhaps in each of our own lives we can see moments in which we also experience a sort of "intersection" of the eternal converging in moments of our own earthly time; in a moment of sudden insight, the perception of grace, a resolution for repentance.  It is this that is emblematic of the experience of participation in the life of Christ, who also underwent human death for us, and experienced His Passion.  We, too, might find moments of deep distress become pivotal moments when -- even in hindsight -- we realize our faith was at work and with us then, whether we recognized it or not.  Moments of deep prayer at such periods have such effects which often we only realize later.  God is with us through all of it, through life and death, moments of change and even deep distress -- for it is in those times that we may choose our faith, or run from it.  Which way does the paralytic in the story begun in yesterday's reading go?  Which way will the leadership go?  So much pivots on that offering of the fountain of life, the words of Christ, and how -- and whether or not -- we receive them. 

I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life

 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."  Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.  You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.  It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.  I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."  Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?"  Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."  These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.

- John 8:12-20

Our current readings place us at the Feast of Tabernacles in the last year of Jesus' life.  This is an eight-day autumn festival, commemorating the time Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai.  Yesterday we read that on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."  Others said, "This is the Christ."  But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?  Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"  So there was a division among the people because of Him.  Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.  Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"  The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."  Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"  They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee?  Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."  And everyone went to his own house.

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." As part of the Feast of Tabernacles, the conclusion includes the lighting of the great lamps at the temple.  (One recalls the pillar of fire that lit the way for the Israelites in the darkness on their way toward the promised kingdom.)  It is in this context that Jesus speaks these words.  My study bible says that He is declaring Himself to be the fulfillment and he divine object of all celebrations of light.  In Scripture, God the Father Himself is light (1:4-9; 1 John 1:5).  This is an attribute bestowed on God's followers (Matthew 5:14; Philippians 2:15).  Christ proclaims such "illumination" by performing the sign of opening the eyes of the blind from birth (9:1-7, especially verse 5).

The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."  Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.  You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.  It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.  I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."  Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?"  Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."  These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.  Once again, Jesus returns to the union of Father and Son, but most particularly to the Father from whom comes all things.  My study bible says that because the Son and the Father share the same divine nature, one cannot be known apart from the other (see John 14:7-11).

What is a witness?  What does it mean to be a witness, or to be a good witness?  What does it mean to bear witness?  A witness, according to one dictionary definition, is one who sees an event, or one who offers evidence or proof of something.  To bear witness, the form Jesus uses here, is a verb form of the word.  To "witness" in this way is to see otherwise observe something, or to give or serve as evidence of it, to testify to something.  What this points to is the reality of the relationship between the Father and the Son.  Can there be an earthly witness of this?  Who can give testimony to this?  Earlier in another reading, Jesus cited four witnesses to this relationship.  He named those to whom it had been divinely revealed:  John the Baptist, a prophet, and Moses, also a prophet.  As third witness He named the Scriptures, also divinely revealed.  And finally He named the works that He did, the signs, also forms of revelation of the presence of the kingdom of heaven in the world.  In today's reading, Jesus says that those who judge Him have no right to do so.  They do not know Him, nor where He is from, nor where He is going -- but He knows these things.  He says, "You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one."    He goes on to add something important:  "And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me."  Everything refers again back to the Father and to the witness that comes of this relationship.  What we gather from these examples of witnesses and witnessing that Jesus cites is the necessary connection to the divine that affirms and teaches about things which are divine in nature and origin.  We can speculate all that we want to, but to "judge according to the flesh" is to judge with standards that are ignorant, in some sense, of the reality of the divine.  It is to judge outside of that reality and understanding and experience.  We take away once again that Jesus is teaching these men that despite their expertise and authority, they cannot judge Him, because they do not have the experience of the love of God in their hearts.  They do not share this communion, and thereby they do not judge accurately nor appropriately.  The theme of today's reading might be summed up in Jesus' words that He is the light of the world.  He says, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  If it is He who comes from the Father, He shares this light with the world.  He has brought illumination for all of us, for each of us.  And it is His mission to bring us to that light so that we, too, may share in it and reflect it into the world.  Everything becomes about this depth of relationship.  We can look at the image of the great lamps burning at the temple, reminding us of the pillar of fire that lit the way in the darkness for the Israelites.  Fire, like light, can be shared and spread.  As one candle in the darkness is lit by the next, this is a light with a divine origin, but which spreads its communion among us and within us.  It is the divine working of this light that we seek, and that we know from Christ and Christ's witness, and all those who bear witness also to this light.  How do you share in it?   How is that light shared with you?  How do you share it with the world and bear witness yourself?